Lot 132: EDEL, ALFREDO.

EDEL, ALFREDO. A COLLECTION OF DETAILED COSTUME WATERCOLOURS. [MILAN], 1898 63 watercolours on card (each approx. 445 x 185mm.), some heightened with gold or silver paint, all signed and dated by Edel ("A Edel 98"), with captions in Italian and some pencil notes regarding fabrics, some with fabric samples attached, occasional slight rubbing or smudging, a few watercolours with light foxing, a few corners bumped

Alfredo Edel (1856-1912) attained international renown for the costumes and scenery he designed for La Scala in Milan, and he acquired a reputation for combining imaginative skill with fine detail (apparently he even checked the appearance of the costume fabrics under the theatre lights). These elegant and elaborate costumes were for the performance at La Scala in 1899 of the ballet Il Carillon, with music by Massenet and produced by Giorgio Saracco. Il Carillon, about a clocktower in Courtrai, was composed in 1891-1892 to be performed in the Vienna Hofoper.